Scummy Retro Game Store Practices

[Grooter48]

I've seen scummy moves at my local game shop. Besides obscenely high prices, they passed off a counterfeit Pokemon Emerald (complete with black cart and cruddy labeling) as a "Japanese import". Priced at $70. The wosrt part about it is that someone apparently purchased it.

[marurun]

I struggle with this sort of thing all the time. I guess what you have to keep in mind is this: will talking to the store owner or staff actually change anything? What is the likelihood of you accomplishing anything other than being kicked out of the store? Sometimes the best thing to do is move on, and if you have any friend or contacts in the area who are into gaming let them know to avoid that place. Or share the info on forums like these.

You should find out if they run eBay auctions via a casual inquiry. Stores like that often do. If they label the auctions as reproductions or translations then it may simply be they haven't thought much about signage in the store. If their auctions lack that information as well, they probably are a bunch of jerks.

[AppleQueso]

Man I'm glad none of my local places are like that.

Worst we have is kinda high prices on some things. Nothing obscene.

[cookie monster]

I know a shop like that near me in pa. This jackass got me for a snes dracula x when i first started collecting. When i tried to return it he said it wasn't his problem so i very kindly explained to him that he could do one of two things refund my cash or get me the correct game. He figured since i was a girl he could bully me into leaving with the fake game. He was wrong i explained to him that i will get a refund or the legit copy he had or i was gonna pull his ass across the counter and beat him like a pinata. I left with the legit game. He ended up selling the fake to another kid i knew for like 80.00 That kid threatened to call the cops on him to get his money back. This guy still does this shady shit and trys to sell repro carts on craigslist as rare legit games.

[Ramminchuck]

UPDATE: After emailing Super Fighter Team it seems they are going to be taking some sort of action against the store for the Nightmare Busters cartridge. Might still go in to see if I can't get them to label that stuff. Probably a fools errand but it won't hurt to try.

[Hobie-wan]

We have that store listing post pinned in this section. It could certainly be used to list them and warn people that they should stay away.

[Gunstar Green]

The worst experience I had with a retro store (besides prices) wasn't a very big deal but still left me a bit steamed. I bought a copy of a game that there were no less than three in the case. He went into the back and got me one with a broken cartridge shell and torn sticker. He put it in the bag before I got a good look at it.

When I noticed I of course made him give me a nicer copy but not without a bit of attitude on his end about not thinking the sticker mattered (come on dude the game was literally cracked and broken) and saying that the ones in the case were there to be shown with the ones in back to be sold first.

I may have sounded a bit angry when I confronted him though and I regret that, I was running hot after getting outside the store only to notice that my new game was in absolute tatters when the store had multiple copies in good condition.

It was a one time incident though and all my other experiences with that particular store have been positive.

[fastbilly1]

There is a guy who travels to conventions and sells alot of legit NES games but every once and a while has a "prototype" Earthbound 1 cart. I told him the first time I saw it that if I could open it before buying it, I would give him twice his sticker price, and ofcourse he said no. Somebody gave him $100 for what was most likely a $30 repro. The following year, there he was again, with another Earthbound prototype... He also had Earthbound for the SNES in the big box, but that was $300.

Ive stopped buying top dollar carts at conventions because of this.

[D.D.D.]

The worst experience I had with a retro store (besides prices) wasn't a very big deal but still left me a bit steamed. I bought a copy of a game that there were no less than three in the case. He went into the back and got me one with a broken cartridge shell and torn sticker. He put it in the bag before I got a good look at it.

When I noticed I of course made him give me a nicer copy but not without a bit of attitude on his end about not thinking the sticker mattered (come on dude the game was literally cracked and broken) and saying that the ones in the case were there to be shown with the ones in back to be sold first.

I may have sounded a bit angry when I confronted him though and I regret that, I was running hot after getting outside the store only to notice that my new game was in absolute tatters when the store had multiple copies in good condition.

It was a one time incident though and all my other experiences with that particular store have been positive.

That is a big deal. He was trying to pass off the shitty copy so they could sell the others at a high price.

[brandman]

I'm pretty glad this thread came up, I was gonna make my own.

Anyways pretty recently I went to a retro store that is some time away from my house, as it was on the way for what I was doing in the area. At first I was turned off at the high prices, but liked the selection. I went ahead and asked the guy about a few ps1 games, seeing as I have recently acquired a system and needed to bulk up that library anyways and fill in gaps in game series'. Unfortunately he didn't have a few I asked, but he did have Crash Bandicoot. After spending about 10 min's in the back fishing a copy out he took the disc out, looked at the back of the disc and told me how it had a few scratches and he was gonna fix it. He then stuck it in the resurfacing machine, which I already was pretty edgy about, I don't like abrasives against my games, especially when I have the means to clean cd's without removing layers of plastic. BUT when he was done he took it out, and rubbed it clean circling around the center and slowly moving out. That is a BIG no no. I was ready to go home already as he took forever and, stupidly, didn't check the disc. I got home and of course, there were TONS of circular scratches from either his machine or the way he cleaned it. It worked in the system luckily, but that just made me mad. Kind of minor, but I easily could have avoided those scratches.